Key functionalities of the system include:

• Client Management
  
• Proposal Management
  
• Contact Management
  
• Correspondence
  
• Administrative Service Invoicing
  
• License Renewal Tracking
  
• Reporting
  
• Commission Accounting
  
• Data Exchange with Carriers
  
• Producer Portal
  
• Commission Reconciliation
  
• Event based messaging
  

Combined Services LLC offers a complete portfolio of insurance products and services through the region's finest insurance producers. As one of New England's largest employee benefits distributors, we maximize the purchasing power of an expansive client base to negotiate the most attractive and competitive insurance programs for our customers.

Combined Services offers a comprehensive array of products that include; group life and disability, dental, worksite products, 401(k) plans, and services such as flexible spending account administration and COBRA compliance administration.

Visit www.combinedservices.com for more information. for more information.

Main functionalities of Policy Processor^TM being utilized to provide the solution include:

• Front-end electronic forms to capture application data
  
• Rules-based requirements determination
  
• Electronic requirements fulfillment
  
• Case management
  
• Rules based underwriting assessment
  
• Support policy issue, settle, and close functions
  
• Cash management and reconciliation
  
• Interfaces through an integration hub with internal legacy systems including agency, policy administration, and imaging
  

Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of wealth accumulation and protection products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Tracing its roots back to 1865, Sun Life Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. As of March 31, 2004, the Sun Life Financial group of companies has assets under management of US$282.1 billion.

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the New York (NYSE), Toronto (TSX) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under ticker symbol SLF.

Visit www.sunlife-usa.com for more information.

"PlanetSoft's state-of-the-art technology has enabled Underwriting Alliance to build a technology platform which allows us to access a nationwide network of high quality, experienced underwriters. This, coupled with Standard Life's ability to bear risk allows us to provide the life insurance industry with a unique underwriting solution," said Bob Schnell, Senior Vice President of Standard Life Insurance Company of Indiana. "PlanetSoft's leading technology along with their commitment to the success of Underwriting Alliance's Third-Party Underwriting (TPU) model will result in our ability to offer a unique alternative for the insurance industry."

Main functionalities of the system include:

• Rules-based requirements determination
  
• Electronic requirements management
  
• Case management
  
• Role-based Dashboard
  
• Interfaces to imaging system
  
• Event-based messaging and correspondence
  
• Interface to client administration system
  

"We are pleased that The Underwriting Alliance has selected PlanetSoft's Policy Processor^TM after evaluating other solutions in the market. Their model requires a scaleable solution that is rich in functionality, and can support the unique processing requirements of multiple clients. The Policy Processor is best suited for such a model because it is configured on a flexible framework and provides remote processing and underwriting capability. The Underwriting Alliance's top class case management and underwriting skills supported by this state-of-the-art technology will create a winning model for outsourced life insurance underwriting and new business processing" said Sudhir Bajaj, CEO of PlanetSoft.



About Underwriting Alliance

Underwriting Alliance, a division of Standard Life Insurance Company of Indiana, is a third-party underwriting service whose focus is providing high quality life insurance underwriting and risk management expertise. Services include risk selection, decision management and case management of underwriting requirements. Risk selection is performed through a nationwide network of highly qualified, experienced underwriters. Underwriting Alliance shares in the mortality risk via reinsurance assumed through SLI.

The promise of tele-underwriting as a cost effective means to conduct reliable applicant interviews and streamline underwriting processes is finally being realized through a new partnership between PlanetSoft and IBU, Inc. Together, the companies have developed a new model for tele-underwriting that combines state-of-the-art web-based technologies with the talents of experienced underwriters to conduct telephone interviews.

The new model is enabled by PlanetSoft's new business processing and underwriting platform - The Policy Processor^TM, which will allow IBU underwriters to enter applicant information directly into state approved application forms. With built-in connectivity to other vendors such as para-med companies and a "fillable forms" capability, information is dynamically populated, reducing the need for dual entry. An online client visibility dashboard provides real-time status updates.


Working with individual life insurance customers, PlanetSoft and IBU will develop customized tele-underwriting solutions to accommodate company specific requirements, such as approved applications forms for each state in which policies are issued. The Policy Processor^TM will allow life insurance companies to benefit from the latest industry standards, such as ACORD data formats and forms, and the emerging X-Forms standards from the W3C.

Additionally, the tele-underwriting solution from PlanetSoft and IBU is designed to apply the right level of expertise to each phase of the underwriting process. Experienced IBU underwriters conduct initial interviews with applicants and gather medical history information. For calls that don't require underwriting expertise, the resources of PlanetSoft's offshore call center are employed. The result offers insurance companies the best possible full-service solution - high quality and reliable applicant interviews with professional call center resources at competitive pricing.

"Leveraging the talent and experience of IBU with the technology and offshore capabilities of PlanetSoft, life insurance companies can now benefit from higher quality telephone inspection reports priced 40 percent less than other major US inspection vendors," said Sudhir Bajaj, PlanetSoft CEO. "Inspections are often a requirement of reinsurance treaties. This cost savings flows straight to the bottom line."

"The PlanetSoft-IBU tele-underwriting solution combines the gut instincts and knowledge of experienced underwriters with the latest technology, offering life insurance companies a quantum leap in productivity and cost savings," said Lincoln Tedeschi, IBU president.

This partnership underscores PlanetSoft's commitment to helping the insurance industry utilize state of the art technology with offshore BPO services to achieve processing efficiencies.

About IBU

IBU, Inc. is a trusted outsourcing partner to the life and health insurance industry providing comprehensive and reliable tele-underwriting support services. With a dedicated team of experienced life and health underwriters the company offers an innovative approach to improve the quality and efficiency of underwriting. By investing in technologies that capitalize on the knowledge and experience of underwriting professionals, IBU delivers telephone interviews that are far superior to traditional call center providers.

PlanetSoft launches The Policy Processor, a configurable new business underwriting support system - .A Full service Agent and Customer Portal providing an Integrated Underwriter Support solution configured to your requirements.

Unlike rigid packaged applications, The Policy Processor is a configurable web based application.

The Policy Processor offers an "increase in revenue" proposition by providing for jet underwriting your cases, reduced new business processing costs and with reduced dropout rate of applicants resulting in increased revenue.

The application integrates data from internal and external systems such as illustrations, agency policy administration, issuing systems, and Data from 3rd party providers resulting in an end-to-end cohesive solution for you. An comprehensive underwriter support provided through queue and view cases, capture notes and organize communications, use u/w work sheet for assisting in rating the cases in fact allowing for Jet underwriting the cases.

PlanetSoft launches Mortgage Process Accelerator^TM – A comprehensive solution to streamline the loan origination and vendor management process, through a workflow based Business Rules Engine.

PlanetSoft announces the launch of Mortgage "Process Accelerator" built on its "Planet Interact" Web Services framework. A Comprehensive solution offered to the Mortgage sector, whereby the process of Loan Origination and Third Party Vendor Management is automated and integrated.

Mortgage Process Accelerator’s key features include:

Loan Origination:

PlanetSoft’s web services Process Accelerator provides end-to-end processing of mortgage loans. The application provides an unprecedented ability for loan originators to configure, manage, and analyze their company-specific business processes. Key components of the Loan Origination module include:

• Leads Management
• Online Application Entry
• Automated application processing through a rules-based engine
• Integration with Auto-Underwriting systems
• Third Party Vendor Integration
• Closing
• Post closing CRM activities
• Mortgage Dashboard to provide a 360 Degree view of the customer/prospect
• Proactive event-based communication such as alerts, notifications, emails, automated faxes.

PlanetSoft introduces Planet Interact – a process collaboration framework targeted to the financial services and insurance industries. Planet Interact will allow companies to streamline business processes within and across organizations. The framework will address process inefficiencies in a number of insurance functional areas, such as underwriting, policy administration, claims management, and agency management. In the broader financial services sector the framework will address process inefficiencies in processing securities and servicing institutional assets.

Xchange Frees Internal R&D Domain Experts to Focus On Platform Enhancements As Company Outsources Maintenance and Platform Porting Xchange, Inc., innovators in helping businesses capture more profit in each customer interaction, today announced that it will outsource its ongoing maintenance and platform porting activities to PlanetSoft, Inc. under terms of a newly- signed contract. The deal will increase the number of Xchange's internally available developers who will be redeployed on product enhancements and next generation evolution.

“PlanetSoft has enjoyed a four year record of success with Xchange and we look forward to a seamless transition into this new and expanded relationship," said Sudhir Bajaj, CEO of PlanetSoft, Inc. We have tackled a variety of projects together and this new chapter is a natural move for us both," he added.

PlanetSoft's long-standing relationship with Xchange has produced a skilled set of engineers whose experience with the Xchange product line is comprehensive. PlanetSoft has executed projects for much of the Xchange product line including designing and implementing feature enhancements to Xchange Campaign, such as Name Mapping and the Multi Row Insert functionality for all databases. They have also participated in Internationalization projects for Xchange, including designing and implementing Date/Time and Numeric modifications to the code base.

Xchange Internal R&D Domain Experts to Drive on Customer-Focused Enhancements "The choice of PlanetSoft was simple based on our long relationship and their deep familiarity with our code," said Charlie Phillips, vice president of engineering of Xchange. "This move will free up development staff and increase our capacity to deliver strategic projects and customer-requested enhancements," he continued.

"The outsourcing and redeployment should increase our customer satisfaction by improving our capacity in both customer service and R&D. It's a double play, allowing us to focus on strategic development efforts internally while increasing the dedicated resources we have allocated to pure maintenance," Phillips stated.

PlanetSoft named member of Microsoft Gold Partner Program

PlanetSoft, Inc., a systems integrator and software solutions developer, today announced it has been selected as a new member in the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Program for E-Commerce solutions. PlanetSoft, Inc. has been named as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for E-Commerce Solutions due to its competence in the latest Microsoft e-commerce technologies and its proven track record of customer satisfaction. Membership in the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Program will provide PlanetSoft with resources to excel further in developing and deploying robust Microsoft e-commerce solutions that will help speed customers' time to market and reduce costs. "We are extremely pleased with our new status as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for E-Commerce Solutions," said Sudhir Bajaj, CEO of PlanetSoft. "Being a Gold member of the program allows us to clearly promote ourselves to customers as having proven expertise in providing high-quality e-commerce solutions. The incremental benefits provided through our Gold membership will allow us to continue to enhance the offerings that we provide for customers. This distinction of being selected as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner combined with our offshore development center and our continued commitment to stay on the cutting edge of Microsoft technologies allows PlanetSoft to offer a value proposition that is unparalleled in our industry.

The Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Program provides a way for customers to identify companies that have proven their commitment and expertise in one or more specialized areas when delivering Microsoft technologies. Microsoft Certified Partners need to meet a higher set of criteria for each category, including enhanced certification and a portfolio of real-world customer references, and are thus identified as the most skilled partners in specific solution areas."

"Today’s pressures to build the best E-Commerce solutions can be critical to business success information. These solutions need to be reliable yet deployed very quickly,” said Rosa Garcia, general manager of the Partner Programs Group at Microsoft Corp. “Microsoft recognizes that companies don’t want to choose a technology partner that needs to learn on the job — they need a partner with proven experience. Today, Microsoft recognizes PlanetSoft for documenting customer satisfaction with numerous e-commerce deployments. This distinction brings value to the Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Program and makes it clear that PlanetSoft has the skills and experience to provide high-quality e-commerce solutions on Microsoft technology."

PlanetSoft signs partnership with BEA Systems to provide leading edge e-commerce solutions to the marketplace. BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS) is one of the world's leading e-business infrastructure software companies, with more than 11,000 customers around the world, including the majority of the Fortune Global 500.